Significant Quotes in Child of God: “He’d grown lean and bitter,’ ‘Some said mad,’ ‘A malign star kept him.” (pg. 41) Explanation: This quote is very significant because it tells you what the people of Lester’s community thought of him. In the quote, a man from his community is insulting him. It tells us that the people believe he has gone mad. In the story, Lester goes through many things that others could never endure. Because he has experienced these things, he acts mad. Some of the experiences he went through were his mother abandoning him, his father hanging himself from the ceiling in his home, and his house getting taken away from him. All of these things could potentially cause somebody to go crazy. The story makes us feel sorry for Lester, where as the people of his community feel as though he is a filthy bum. That is because we know what he has been through and how he feels. The citizens do not. We realize that Lester would not be the way he is if it weren’t for certain things that occurred during his early life. The quote is significant because it tells us how the citizens of Lester’s community feel. “Scuttling down the mountain with the thing on his back he looked like a man beset by some ghast succubus, the dead girl riding him with legs bowed akimbo like a monstrous frog,” (pg. 153). Explanation: This quote is significant because it shows how violent and mad (crazy) Lester really was. Before this quote, Lester had just murdered the girl and her boyfriend. He went down the mountain with the dead girl on his back. This also shows us that Lester is a cruel and violent criminal who deserves to rot in jail. In the story however, we as the readers feel sorry for Lester. We feel as though Lester is doing all of these acts subconsciously, just like the main character of the book Nineteen Minutes. We also feel sorry for Lester because of the experiences he has lived through that cause him to commit such horrible crimes. Even though he is a criminal, we feel sympathy for him. We may not want to feel sorry, but we do. Even though he has just killed a boy and a girl, and is taking the dead body of the girl down the mountain to rape, we feel sorry for him. We not only see Lester Ballard as being a serial killer and a necrophiliac, we also see him as a “loveless simian”. That is the significance of that quote. “The deputy had one knee in the small of Ballard’s back. The woman had risen. She cocked her elbows and drew back her foot and kicked Ballard in the side of the head,” (pg. 52). Explanation: This quote is significant because it shows us how Lester is treated in his community. In the story, Lester was walking down the mountain when he came across a woman asleep on the ground. He woke her up, and she screamed at him, her breath smelling like whiskey. She looked extremely cold in her night gown. She picked up a rock and threw it at him. He grimaced. Lester got mad and ripped her gown off, exposing her to the freezing cold. He then walked away. A few days later the woman filed charges for rape. He went over to the sheriff’s house to talk with him. The woman was there as well. She got mad and started to kick. Lester was taken by the deputy, and was kicked in the head by the woman. He was later put in jail for rape. This quote makes us feel sorry for Lester. He had not done anything wrong, yet he was beaten and put in jail by the sheriff, the deputy, and the woman. The sheriff and the deputy took the side of the woman because they did not like Lester. This shows how Lester was treated by the people in his community. This also led to Lester leaving his home to live in the caves. Because Lester was treated unfairly by everyone, he left in search of solitude. That is the significance of this quote.
“He’d grown lean and bitter,’
‘Some said mad,’
‘A malign star kept him.” (pg. 41)
Explanation: This quote is very significant because it tells you what the people of Lester’s community thought of him. In the quote, a man from his community is insulting him. It tells us that the people believe he has gone mad. In the story, Lester goes through many things that others could never endure. Because he has experienced these things, he acts mad. Some of the experiences he went through were his mother abandoning him, his father hanging himself from the ceiling in his home, and his house getting taken away from him. All of these things could potentially cause somebody to go crazy. The story makes us feel sorry for Lester, where as the people of his community feel as though he is a filthy bum. That is because we know what he has been through and how he feels. The citizens do not. We realize that Lester would not be the way he is if it weren’t for certain things that occurred during his early life. The quote is significant because it tells us how the citizens of Lester’s community feel.
“Scuttling down the mountain with the thing on his back he looked like a man beset by some ghast succubus, the dead girl riding him with legs bowed akimbo like a monstrous frog,” (pg. 153).
Explanation: This quote is significant because it shows how violent and mad (crazy) Lester really was. Before this quote, Lester had just murdered the girl and her boyfriend. He went down the mountain with the dead girl on his back. This also shows us that Lester is a cruel and violent criminal who deserves to rot in jail. In the story however, we as the readers feel sorry for Lester. We feel as though Lester is doing all of these acts subconsciously, just like the main character of the book Nineteen Minutes. We also feel sorry for Lester because of the experiences he has lived through that cause him to commit such horrible crimes. Even though he is a criminal, we feel sympathy for him. We may not want to feel sorry, but we do. Even though he has just killed a boy and a girl, and is taking the dead body of the girl down the mountain to rape, we feel sorry for him. We not only see Lester Ballard as being a serial killer and a necrophiliac, we also see him as a “loveless simian”. That is the significance of that quote.
“The deputy had one knee in the small of Ballard’s back. The woman had risen. She cocked her elbows and drew back her foot and kicked Ballard in the side of the head,” (pg. 52).
Explanation: This quote is significant because it shows us how Lester is treated in his community. In the story, Lester was walking down the mountain when he came across a woman asleep on the ground. He woke her up, and she screamed at him, her breath smelling like whiskey. She looked extremely cold in her night gown. She picked up a rock and threw it at him. He grimaced. Lester got mad and ripped her gown off, exposing her to the freezing cold. He then walked away. A few days later the woman filed charges for rape. He went over to the sheriff’s house to talk with him. The woman was there as well. She got mad and started to kick. Lester was taken by the deputy, and was kicked in the head by the woman. He was later put in jail for rape. This quote makes us feel sorry for Lester. He had not done anything wrong, yet he was beaten and put in jail by the sheriff, the deputy, and the woman. The sheriff and the deputy took the side of the woman because they did not like Lester. This shows how Lester was treated by the people in his community. This also led to Lester leaving his home to live in the caves. Because Lester was treated unfairly by everyone, he left in search of solitude. That is the significance of this quote.